131s. 89. 48 141 155. 7 J712. 34 Jg8. Zl jga. 18 21»- M, Rq 116 322
W- '» 13" 15>^ 1 Co P' 3» I4« 152- ", Gal S--^, Eph 118. w 1 XI, 17 210. u 2 Th l'». He 4», 1 P 2'). A survey of these passages wUl show very clearly that in the NT 'to believe' is a technical term to ex- press reliance on Christ for salvation. In a number of them, to be sure, the object of the believing spoken of is sufficiently defined by the context, but, without contextual indication of the object, enough remain to bear out tliis suggestion. Accordingly, a tendency is betrayed to use the simple participle very much as a verbal noun, with the meaning of ' Christian ' : in Mk 9*^, Ac 1 1'\ 1 Co l'", Ejili I's- '», 1 Th 1' 2'»- '» the participial construction is evident ; it may be doubted, how- ever, whether ol ri<rreii<Tairres is not used as a noun in such passages as Ac ?" 4'», 2 Th l'", He 4' ; and in Ac .5'* TitrrevopTes is perhaps generally recognized as used substantively. Before the disciples were called 'Christians' (Ac ll-», cf. 26-«, 1 P 4'«) it would seem, tlien, that they were called 'be- lievers,'— those who had turned to Christ in trust- ing reliance (ol in<TTeii<ravTei), or those who were resting on Christ in trusting reliance (ol wia-Tfi- ovTfs); and that the undefined 'to believe' had come to mean to become or to be a Cliristian, that is, to turn to or rest on Christ in reliant trust. The occasional use of ol iriffrol in an equivalent sense (Ac 10", Eph 1', 1 Ti 4" 12, 1 P l^i, Rev 17'*), for which the way was prepared by the compara- tively frequent use of this adjective in the classic- ally rare active sense (.In 1-'', Ac IG', 1 Co V'-", 2 Co 6", Gal 3», 1 Ti 4'" 5'» C^ Tit I'), adds weight to
this conclusion ; as do also the use of in. arm of ' un- believers,' whetlier in the simple (1 Co 6* 7'^-" ll'" 1422-24_ 1 xi 5") or deepened sense (2 Co 4' 6'«-, Tit 1", cf. Jn 20-'', Mt 17", Mk 9'», Lk 9^'), and the related usage of the words diriaTta (Mk 9" (16"), Mt IS!*, Mk 6", Ko i-" 1 1-»- •■«, 1 Ti 1", He 3'»- '»), djricrT^u. (Mk 16" I'"!, Lk 24"*', Ac 28*', 1 P 2'), and 6\Ly6- TTKrTos (Mt 6»» 8=« 14" 16«, Lk 12^), d\iyoTi<rrla (Mt 17=").
The impression which is thus derived from the usage of TuTTeieiv is only deepened by attending to that of iridTis. As already intimated, irio-ns occurs in NT very rarely in its pa.ssive sense of ' faithfulness,' ' integrity '^ (Ro 3» of God ; Mt 23-^, Gal 5-3, Tit 2">, of men ; cf. 1 Ti 5" ' a pledge ' ; Ac 17" 'assurance'; others add 1 Ti 6", 2 Ti 2-2 3'°, PhUem"). And nowhere in the multitude of its occurrences in its active sense is it applied to man's faith in man, but alwaj's to the relijjcious trust that reposes on God, or Christ, or divine things. The specific object on which the trust rests is but seldom explicitly expressed. In some six of these instances it is a tiling, but always something of the fullest soteriological signifi- cance— the gospel of Christ (Ph 1"), the saving truth of God (2 Th 2'»), the working of God who raised Jesus from the dead (Col 2'", cf. Ac 14' 3'*), the name of Jesus (Ac 3"), the blood of Jesus (Ro 3^), the righteousness of Jesus (2 P 1'). In as many more the object is God, and the conception is prevailingly that of general trust in God (Mk 11-'^, Ro 14=^ 1 Th 18, He 6', 1 P V\ cf. Col 2'3). In most instances, however, the object is specified as Christ, and the faith is very pointedly soteriological (Ac 20=' 24« 26'8, Gal 2'"- '«^ -«, Ro 3*'- ««, Gal 'i-'- ■', Eph l'» 3'^ 4'», Ph 3', Col 1* 2», 1 Ti 1'* 3"- '», 2 Ti l" 3'*, Philem », Ja 2', Rev 2" 14"'). Its object is most frequently joined to Tritrris as an objective genitive, a construction occurring some seventeen times, twelve of which fall in the writings of Paul. In four of them the genitive is that of the thing, viz. in Ph 1" the gospel, in 2 Th 2" the saving truth, in Col 2'^ the almighty working of God, and in Ac 3" the name of Jesus. In one of them it is God (Mk 11~). The certainty that the genitive is that of object in these cases is decisive witli reference to its nature in the remaining cases, in wliich Jesus Christ is set forth as the object on which faith rests (Ko 3=2- », Gal 2" '«• » 3*", Eph 3" 4", Ph 3», Ja 2', Rev 2" 14'-). Next most frequently its object is joined to faith by means of the preposition if (9 times), by which it is set forth as the basis on which faith rests, or the sphere of its operation. In two of these instances tlie object is a thing — the blood or righteousness of Jesus (Ro 3^, 2 P 1') ; in the rest it is Christ Himself who is presented as the ground of faith (Gal 3-», Eph 1", Col 1*, 1 Ti 1" 3'», 2 Xi 1" 3"). Somewhat less frequently (5 times) its object is joined to ttIo-tis by means of the pre- position els, designating, apparently, merely the object with reference to which faith is exercised (cf. especially Ac 20^') ; the object thus specified for faith is in one instance God (1 P P'), and in the others Christ (Ac 20^' 24" 26'», Col 2»). By the side of this construction should doubtless be placed the two insoaaces in wliich tlie preposition rpd! is used, by wliich faith is said to look and adhere to God (I Til 1«) or to Christ (Philem"). And it is practically in the same sense that in a single in- stance God is joined to ttIo-tis by means of the pre- position iirl as the object to which it restingly turns. It would seem that the pregnant sense of Tritms as self-abandoning trust was so fixed in Christian sjieech that little was left to be expressed by tlie mode of its adjunction to its object.